Page 104 of Single-Minded
“Miss Presley, would you please,” Scarlet said.
“Do us the honor,” Sienna added.
“Go on a date with us!” Nova yelled.
Everyone laughed, including West and me.
“That was supposed to be a question instead of a command,” he said as I met his gaze, both of us grinning wide. “We’d like to take you to dinner for a family date.”
“I would love to go on a date with all of you,” I said. I bent down for a four-way hug with the girls, pulling them into me, inhaling the scent of little girls who’d apparently drunk our kids’ version of a latte flight. “You finish up your raffle entries while I hug your dad, if that’s okay.”
“It’s more than okay,” Scarlet told me earnestly.
I turned to West and hugged him, several people cheering us on.
“Family date first,” he said into my ear so no one else could hear. “And after that, we’ll steal some adult time, I promise.”
I nodded, overcome with elation. The day had gone as well as a grand opening could possibly go, and then it’d gotten twenty times better when West walked back into my life. “That sounds like a perfect date,” I said as we ended the hug.
“Then we’ll take it one day at a time,” he said. “Together.”
Epilogue
Two months later
Presley
“Happy birthday, my love,” I said once I could put words together in the right order. “Seems like I got a present too even though it’s not my special day.”
West let out a low, satisfied growl. “I can’t think of a better way to start the day, birthday or not.”
He was on top of me, still inside me, in my bed in the master bedroom of my beautifully remodeled home.
Waking up together was a rare, cherished treat, as was spending a full night together.
His mom had invited Sienna, Nova, and Scarlet to Nashville for the weekend, promising them a movie at the theater yesterday and a trip to an orchard today. Whether she’d admitted it or not, I was pretty sure the real reason was to give West and me time together to celebrate.
We’d celebrated on and off all night.
That was the easy, no-brainer part. I hoped the gift I’d gotten him would go over okay.
My idea had seemed perfect—fitting and funny and heart-tugging all at once—when I’d come up with it. As usual I’d acted on it right away, but ever since putting it into motion, I’d had some low-key worries that it would send the wrong message.
Tamping down on that, I pulled his head to me and kissed him, taking my time and making sure he knew how loved he was.
“I’m a lucky man,” he said in his gravelly morning voice. “Be right back.”
He rolled out of bed and went into the bathroom. As soon as he closed the door, I gathered my nerve, hurried to my closet, dragged his large gift out, and propped it up against the bed. Nervous, I pulled my robe on, sat on the mattress next to the gift, and waited.
The door opened, and he emerged, a grin on his handsome face and not a stitch of clothing on his gorgeous body. He’d made me scream his name not fifteen minutes ago, but I already felt a stirring of desire deep inside me as I watched him walk toward me, his eyes lighting up at the wrapped present.
“What’s this?” he asked.
I took in a quiet, steeling breath. “Something for the birthday boy.”
“Can I unwrap it now?”
“Of course. Unless you’d rather wait till after kayaking.” We’d planned an early-morning outing.
